Book cover and machine for making same



Aug. 10, 1965 w. H. CADDOO 3,199,896

BOOK COVER AND MACHINE FOR MAKING SAME Original Filed Sept. '7, 1961 INVENTOR \AhLLIAM H CADDOO hingedly connected by a tape.

United States Patent 0 7 3,199,896 BOOK COVER AND MACHINE FQR MAKING SAME William H. Caddoo, Darien, Conn assignor to Continental CanCornp'auy, Irrc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Original application Sept. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 136,584, new

Patent No. 3,145,033, dated Aug. 18, 1964. Divided and this application Apr. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 363,572

' 15 Claims. (til. 281-29) This is a division of my copending application Serial No. 136,684, filed September 7, 1 961, and now US. Patent No. 3,145,033, issued August 18, 1964. This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in the manufacture of paper products, and more particularly to a novel book cover and a machine for making the same.

At the present time, there are being manufactured book covers which are formed primarily of two leafboards In certain instances, the book covers may include a spine carried by the tape and disposed intermediate the leafboard. When the tape does not extend the full width of the book cover, the central portion of each book cover is of an increased thickness equal to the thickness of the tape.

When book covers of the previously described type are palletized or stacked, the book covers have a decided hump in the center due to the added thickness of the tape at the centers thereof. This, of course, is unsuitable for stacking, for shipment, andwhen the stacks are tightly bound there results undue distortion of the book covers. In order to overcome this humping in the center of the stacked book covers, the practice of inserting strips of board every so often has been resorted to but this has only resulted in deformation of the lea-fboards.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a novel book cover which includes the customary leafboards and tape hingedly connecting together the leafboards, but wherein the tape is disposed substantially Within the general plane of the leafboards so that the center of the book cover is of a thickness no greater than the thickness of the outer portions of the book cover with the result that the book cover may be stacked and a stack of such book covers will'be of substantially the same height throughout the length of the book cover.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel book cover which includes at least a pair of leafboards and a relatively thin, flexible tape hingedly connecting together the leafboards, the tape being countersunk with an edge portion of the leafboa-rds whereby the maximum thickness of the book cover is substantially equal to the thickness of the leafboards and there is no increase in the thickness cent-rally of the book cover which would make stacking of the book covers ditficult.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel book cover which includes two leafboards having opposed edges thereof inspaced relation, and the edge portions of the leafboards having indentations, or recesses, or compressed portions in the rear surfaces thereof, a tape formed of relatively thin, and flexible paper material interconnecting together the leafboards, the edge portions of the tape being seated wholly within the depressions in the leafboards, and there being a spine carried by the tape, the spine being relatively narrow and being centered between the two leafboards.

It has been proposed to form the book cover, which is the subject of this invention by providing the depressions for the tape in the leaiboards prior to the assembling of the leafboards and tape. However, when the book covers are formed on a high speed basis from webs, it is eX- tremely diflicult to obtain the necessary alignment of the webs. Therefore, this practice is undesirable.

In view of the foregoing, it is another object of this invention to provide a novel machine for forming a book cover of the type which includes a pair of leafboards connected together by a tape for hinged movement. The machine including means for feeding a plurality of continuous webs, means for guiding and assembling the webs I to form a composite and continuous unit, and a roll assembly for receiving the continuous unit and depressing and compressing the tape into the leafboards only at the edge portions thereof while maintaining major portions of the leatboards substantially uncompressed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel apparatus for forming book covers of the type described from continuous webs including means for feeding, guiding and assembling webs to form a composite and continuous unit including at least two leafboards hingedly connected together by a tape, and a roll assembling including a flat roll and rib roll in opposed relationship through which the unit is passed, the rib roll including an elongated centrally disposed rib for engagement only with edge portions of the tape whereby the tape is compressed a distance beyond its thickness into the leafboards and rebound after passage beyond the roll assembly.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel improvement in existing types of book cover forrning apparatus wherein a plurality of continuous webs provided in spool form are first shaped and then adhesively secured together, after which the secured together webs are cut into book cover lengths, the apparatus being improved by the addition of rolls for engagement with the assembled webs to compress the portions of the leafboard webs a suflicient extent to permit the seating of the edges of the tape within the general plane of the leafboard webs, after which the assembled webs are cut into book cover lengths.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view showing the details of the apparatus for forming a book cover in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1, and shows the specific relationship of pressing rollers with respect to the assembled webs, the view being dimensionally exaggerated.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of an enlarged scale of a book cover formed in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along line 44 of FIGURE 3, with an intermediate portion of the book cover being broken away and shows the specific details of construction of the book cover.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through the central portion of a modified form of book cover.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, reference is first made to FIGURES 3 and 4 wherein a book cover in accordance with this invention is illustrated, the book cover being generally referred to by the numeral 6. The book cover 6 is formed of a pair of leafboards 7, 8 which are connected together by a tape 9. It is to be noted that the leafboards 7 and 8 are formed of two plies 1t), 11 and the tape 9 is secured to the plies 10. The plies 11B are provided with recessed edge portions, which are recessed as at 12 and into which edge portions of the tape 9 are received. In this manner, the outer surface of the tape 9 is disposed substantially coplanar with the outer surfaces of the leafboards 8.

The book cover 6 also includes a spine 13. In the preferred construction of the'book cover 6, the spine 13 is of the same thickness as the layer 11 and is formed from the same web as the layer 11. The layer 119 of the two leafboards 7, 8 is formed from the same web.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 1 in detail, wherein there is illustrated a novel apparatus for forming the book cover 6, the apparatus being schematically illustrated and generally referred to by the numeral 14. The apparatus 14- is constructed to handle three webs, the webs including a relatively thin web 15,-and two thicker webs 16 and-17, with the web 17 being wider than the web 16, and the web 15 being relatively narrow as compared to the webs 16 and 17.

The apparatus or machine 14 ncludes a lower slitting mechanism 18 with which the web 15 engages. The slitter 18 trims the web 15 to define .the tape 9.

' The machine 14 also includes a slitter 19 which is en gaged with the Webs 16. As the web 16 passes over the slitter 19,'not only is the web 16 trimmed to an accurate size, but it is also divided in half to form the two layers 11 described above with respect to the book cover 6.

A third slitter 26 is provided for engagement with the web 17. Asthe web 17 passes over the slitter 20, not only is the web 17 trimmed for size and alignment requirements, but it is also divided into three components, the outer two being the layers 11 and the central being in the form of a narrow strip which forms the spine. 13. After passing through'the slitter 18, the web 15, which has now become the tape 9, passes beneath a suitable guide roll 21 and up over another guide roll 22 and then between two pairs of pressing rollers 23.

The two layers 16 pass over a guide roller 24 after, passing through the slitter 19 and then pass through a suitable guide mechanism, generally referred to by the numeral 25, which effects the necessary separation of the layers 16. The layers 19 then pass through a suitable adhesive applying mechanism, generally referred to by the numeral 26, wherein adhesive is applied to the undersides. of the layers 10 adjacent the inner edges thereof. The layers 10 pass beneath a suitable guide 27 and up over the roller 22 where the adhesively coated portions of the layers 16 come into contactwith the upper surface of the tape 9.

" After the web 17 passes through the slitter 26, as stated above, it is divided into the two layers 11 and the spine 13. The layers 11 and the spine 13 pass over a guide roller 28 and then through a guide mechanism, a

generally referred to by the numeral 29, which guide mechanism spaces the layers. 11 on opposite sides of the spine 13. The layers 11 and the spine 13' then pass through a suitable adhesive applicator, generally referred to by the numeral 30, wherein adhesive is applied to the undersides of the layers 11 and the spine 13.

After adhesive has been applied to the layers 11, the layers 11 move downwardly beneath a guide roller 31 and come into contact with the layers 10, the layers 16 and 11 being aligned. The layers 16 and 11 together with the tape 9 pass through the roller 23 wherein the adhesively coated opposed surfaces of the tape 9 and the layers 16, '11 are tightly pressed together to effect the adhesive bonding together of these components. The spine 13 passes above the roller 23 and passes beneath special pressers 32 which pressthe adhesive coated spine 13 against the tape 9 and effect the necessary adhesion thereof to the tape 9.

The completely assembled portions of the webs 15, Y16 and 17, that is, the tape 9, the layers 16 and 11, and the spine 13, then pass between a pair of rolls 33, 34. The

roll 33 whichis disposed uppermost, as viewed in FIG- URE l of the drawing, is smooth and of the same diameter throughout its length. The roll 34 is also smooth butin faces of said, leafboards.

4 tance equal to substantially twice the thickness of the tape 9. As the adhesively secured assembled element of the book cover passes between the rolls 33, 34, the rib 35 on the roll 35 tightly compresses. against the tape 9 and moves the tap 9 upwardly and forms a depression in the undersides of the layers 10, as isbest illustrated in FEGURE 2 of the drawing. Thus, as the. assembled unit passes outfrom betweenthe rolls 33, 34, the tape 9 will be recessed in the layers 10. However, due to the inherent resiliency or spring-back qualities of the paperboard from which the layers 16 and 11 are formed, the layers 16 will spring back substantially one-half. of the amount of the depressing thereof, with the result that in the completed book cover, the tape 9 will be substantially coplanar with the layers 11 and will be neither recessed nor projecting in any substantial amount. 7

The assembled units of the book cover pass through suitable speed rolls 36, 37 to a shear 38'which cuts the assembled units into individual ones of the book cover 6. Due to the fact that the book cover 6 has the tape 9 thereof recessed within the leafboards 7, 8, it will be readily apparent that the book. cover 6 may be stacked without any bulging thereof at the centers in a manner to provide the proper stacking and securing of the book covers for shipment.

In the book cover illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4, typical dimensions will be for each of the layers 10, 11, to be of a thickness of 0.04 inch and the tape 9 to have a thickness of 0.010 inch. The spine 13, of course, will be of the same thickness as the layers 11. These, of course are only typical dimensionsJ 7 Reference is now made to FIGURE 5 wherein there is illustrated a portion of a modified form of a book cover formed in accordance with this invention and genorally referred to by the numeral 39. The book cover 39,

like the book cover 6, includes a pair of leafboards 40,

41 which are connected together by a tape 42. The tape 42 carries a spine 43 which is disposed intermediate the leafboards 4t 41. In the book cover 39, the leafboards it 41 are formed of single thickness material in lieu of being laminated. The spine 43 remains of a thickness substantially equal to one-half the thickness of the leafboards, but must be furnished from its own supply of paperboard. I

It is to be understoodthat while in the machine 14 adhesive has been illustrated as being placed on the layers 11?, Hand the spine 13, the adhesive may be applied to any of the various components of thebook cover in a pattern which will provide the necessary adhesive securing together of the components For example, adhesive could be placed on the tape h in lieu of being placed on the layers 111. Also, the adhesivecouldoe placed on the upper surface of the layers 16 in lieu of being placed on the, undersurfaces of the layers 11. e

From the foregoing, it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made for carrying. out the desired end. However, attention is directed to the fact that variations may be made in the example book covers,

method and apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined'in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A book cover comprising two spaced leafboa'rds and a thin tape hingedly connecting together said leafboards, said leafboards having depressed edge portions with said edge portionsbeing compressed and said leafboards being otherwise uncompressed, and edges of said tape being fully seated in said leafboard edge portions with said tape being wholly disposed between the planes of the opposite 2. A, book cover comprising two spacedleafboards, a thin tape hingedly connecting saidlea'fboards together,

and a narrow spine carried by said tape intermediate-adjacent edges of said leafboards, said leaiboards being constructed of generally non-compressed material having compressed edge portions, and edges of said tape being fully seated in said leat'boarcl edge portions with said tape being wholly disposed between the planes of the opposite faces of said leafboards.

3. The book cover of claim 1 wherein said tape and said leatboards are paper products.

4. The book cover of claim 2 wherein each of said leafboards includes an outer ply and an inner ply, and said spine being of the same thickness as said outer ply.

5. A book cover comprising two spaced leafboards and a thin tape hingedly connecting together asid leafboards, said leafboards having depressed edge portions with said edge portions being compressed and said leafboards being otherwise uncompressed, and edges of said tape being seated in said leafboard edge portions with said tape being generally disposed between the planes of the opposite faces of said leafboards.

6. An apparatus for forming book covers from continuous webs comprising means for feeding, guiding and assemblying webs to form a composite and continuous unit including at least two leafboards hingedly connected together by a tape, and a roll assembly receiving said continuous unit for depressing the tape into the leafboards.

7. An apparatus for forming book covers from continuous webs comprising means for feeding, guiding and assembling webs to form a composite and continuous unit including at least two leafboards hingedly connected together by a tape, and a roll assembly receiving said continuous unit for depressing the tape into the leafboards, said roll assembly comprising a flat roll and a ribbed roll, said ribbed roll including an elongated centrally disposed circumferential rib for engagement with the tape.

8. An apparatus for forming book covers from continuous webs comprising means for feeding, guiding and assembling webs to form a composite and continuous unit including at least two leafboards hingedly connected together by a tape, and a roll assembly receiving said continuous unit for depressing the tape into the leafboards, said roll assembly comprising a flat roll and a ribbed roll, said ribbed roll including an elongated centrally disposed rib for'engagement with the tape, and cut-off means for cutting the continuous unit into book cover lengths.

9. An apparatus for forming book covers from continuous webs comprising means for feeding, guiding and assembling'webs to form a composite and continuous unit including at least two leafboards hingedly connected together by a tape, and a roll assembly receiving said continuous unit for depressing the tape into the leafboards, said roll assembly comprising a flat roll and a ribbed roll, said ribbed roll including an elongated centrally disposed rib for engagement with the tape, said centrally disposed rib having a length corresponding generally to the width of the tape.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein means are provided for splitting a single web for forming parts of the two leafboards.

11. A book cover comprising two spaced leafboards,

a spine and a thin tape hingedly connecting together said leafboards and spine, said leafboards having depressed edge portions, with said edge portions being compressed and leafboards being otherwise uncompressed, said spine being uncompressed, and edges of said tape being fully seated in said leafboard edge portions with said tape being wholly disposed between the planes of the opposite faces of said leafboards.

12. A book cover comprising two spaced paperstock leafboards and a tape hingedly connecting together said leafboard, said leafboards having generally uncompressed portions and opposed compressed edge portions receiving said tape and said tape having a thickness substantially equal to the difference in thickness between said generally uncompressed portions and said compressed edge portions whereby said tape is wholly disposed within said compressed edge portions.

13. The book cover as defined in claim 12 including a generally uncompressed paperstock spine secured to said tape between said two spaced leafboards.

14. A book cover comprising at least two spaced paperstock leafboards and a tape hingedly connecting together said leatboards, said leafboards having generally uncompressed and non-depressed portions and opposed depressed and compressed edge portions receiving said tape, and only edge portions of said tape being received in the opposed edge portions of the leafboards being similarly compressed while a central portion of said tape is uncompressed.

15. An apparatus for forming book covers from continuous webs comprising first, secondand third means for feeding, guiding and assembling first, second and third webs, means for trimming longitudinal edge portions of said first, second and third webs, means for slitting said second web longitudinally medially thereof, means for slitting said third web to form at least three third web portions therefrom, means for assembling the first web, the slit second web, and the third web portions to form a continuous unit, in which edge portions of the first web contact opposed edge portions of the slit second web, means for depressing said first web into said slit second web by compressing at least the edge portions of the first and second webs without compressing remaining portions thereof and means for severing said continuous unit into book cover lengths.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,166,038 7/39 Chambon 112 X 2,339,586 1/44 Roberts 281-29 2,556,787 6/51 Bach et al. 11-2 X 2,621,138 12/52 Messing 156-209 2,641,484 6/53 Brody 112 X 2,922,172 1/60 Boyle 156516 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Examiner. 

1. A BOOK COMPRISING TWO SPACED LEAFBOARDS AND A THIN TAPE HINGEDLY CONNECTING TOGITHER SAID LEAFBORDS, SAID LEAFBOARDS HAVING DEPRESSED EDGE PORTIONS WITH SAID EDGE PORTIONS BEING COMPRESSED AND SAID LEAFBOARDS BEING OTHERWISE UNCOMPRESSED, AND EDGES OF SAID TAPE BEING FULLY SEATED IN SAID LEAFBOARD EDGE PORTIONS WITH SAID TAPE BEING WHOLLY DISPOSED BETWEEN THE PLANES OF THE OPPOSITE FACES OF SAID LEAFBOARDS. 